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Dickens' Literary Devices Structural Features

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Dickens' Literary Devices Structural Features Scene-by-Scene Summary – Alongside key quotations from each scene. Context – A Christmas Carol was written by Charles Dickens in 1843 Charles Dickens – Charles Dickens was born in 1812 and Class Divides – Despite industrial changes altering It is a foggy Christmas Eve, and Scrooge is working in his counting house. He spent the first years of his life in Kent, England. At 9, he the social landscape, there were still relatively refuses to buy another lump of coal to heat Bob Cratchit’s (his clerk’s) office. “Marley was dead: to begin with. There is moved to London. At 12, his father was sent to debtors’ distinct social classes in operation: the nobility upper Scrooge’s cheerful nephew, Fred, enters, inviting Scrooge to Christmas party, no doubt whatever about prison for racking up huge debts, and Charles was given a class, the middle class, and the working class. Life but he declines. After he leaves, two gentlemen enter, asking if Scrooge is that. The register of his burial painful job labelling bottles near the prison. He found this period in was terrible for the poorest: Lack of money resulted willing to make a charitable donation to the poor. Scrooge again declines. He was signed by the clergyman, STAVE ONE begrudgingly gives Bob Cratchit the day off. Scrooge follows his usual routine his life hellish, and it doubtlessly led him to draw readers’ attention in a negligible food supply. For some working the clerk, the undertaker, on the way home. At home, he sees the ghost of his old business partner (Jacob and the chief mourner. to the plight of the poor when he later found success as an author. families, money was so tight that they required Marley) in the knocker. Marley is in chains as punishment for his selfishness and Many of his works are about social hardships and inequalities. their children to work in order to survive. Scrooge signed it.” greed when living. He says that he seeks to save Scrooge from the same fate, The Victorian Era– The Victorian era describes the period Health and Medicine –Healthcare was more of a luxury and hence Scrooge will be visited by 3 ghosts over the next 3 nights. in which Queen Victoria sat on the English throne – at the time, and medicine was nowhere near as Scrooge is confused to wake at midnight, as it was after 2am when he went to “But the strangest thing about it was, that between 1837 and 1901 (most of Dickens’ life). Whilst this advanced today, Many diseases were rife, and childbirth sleep. At one o clock, Scrooge is visited by a strange child-like figure that from the crown of its head there sprung a was a time of industrial revolution, it was also an and poverty were very real dangers to people living in emanates wisdom – The Ghost of Christmas Past. The spirit touches Scrooges bright clear jet of light, by which all this extremely harsh time to live, and the differences between the lives of the era. As a result, a middle class person may expect to live to 45 at heart, granting the power to fly. The ghost takes Scrooge back to where he was visible; and which the richest and the poorest were exacerbated. The Victorian era was the time, whereas a working class person would have been lucky to was raised – Scrooge is touched by memories of his childhood. He sees himself was doubtless the as a schoolboy spending Christmas alone, being visited by his sister, being at a a period of great change. In this time, the population of England have lived half that time. In A Christmas Carol, the restrictions in STAVE TWO party held by Scrooge’s old boss Fezziwig, and with his old partner Belle, who occasion of its using, in its doubled – from 16.8 million 1851 to over 30 million in 1901. healthcare are evident in Tiny Tim’s continued suffering. is breaking off their engagement on account of his greed. He sees Belle in a duller moments, a great Workhouses– A workhouse was a place where a person Christmas– We now associate Christmas as being a time more modern time, with her husband, discussing how Scrooge is now ‘quite extinguisher for a cap, went if they could not afford to financially support of seasonal goodwill, love and friendship. However, before alone in the world.’ Scrooge is upset by the visions, and begs with the ghost to which it now held under themselves and their families. Men, women and children the Victorian era, when writers such as Dickens spread take him back home. Scrooge finds himself back in his bedroom, where he its arm.” (mostly orphans) lived and worked in the workhouses, which were these messages through their novels, there was no Santa once again falls asleep almost instantly. very crowded – making living conditions unhealthy and unpleasant. Claus, Christmas cards, and no holidays from work! Christmas Day The bell strikes one, and Scrooge is awake once more. At fifteen minutes past one, he wanders into the next room, where he finds the Ghost of Christmas “Its dark brown curls People slept in dormitories, where disease was easily spread. In A was a far more low-key affair. Writers such as Dickens encouraged were long and free; Christmas Carol, Scrooge voices his support for workhouses. middle-class families to share their wealth and act selflessly. Present waiting for him. He is a majestic jolly giant, and sits atop of a mountain of food. The spirit takes Scrooge to the bustling streets on Christmas free as its genial face, morning, where passers-by joyfully greet each other. The spirit then takes its sparkling eye, its Scrooge to the home of Bob Cratchit, where the family savour the Christmas Main Characters – Consider what Dickens intended through his characterisation of each of the below… STAVE THREE open hand, its cheery that they can afford. Their visibly-ill son, Tiny Tim, is cheering despite his voice, its Ebenezer Scrooge – Scrooge is the lead protagonist of the novella. The Cratchits– Bob Cratchit is Scrooge’s kind, mild-mannered clerk, ailments. Scrooge begs to know whether he will survive. They also visit Fred’s unconstrained He is a miserly owner of a counting house (what would now be who is treated terribly by his employer. He is a very poor man, with Christmas party, which Scrooge enjoys (though no one can see him). demeanour, and its called an accountant’s office). Initially greedy, selfish and cold, a large family, including Tiny Tim. Tiny Tim is a young boy who has Eventually, Scrooge is brought to a vast expanse, where two sickly children, ‘Want’ and ‘Ignorance’ emerge. When Scrooge asks if there is anything that joyful air.” Scrooge hates Christmas and lacks any form of Christmas spirit. He been born with physical disabilities that his family are too poor to experiences a moral and psychological transformation through his have treated. Despite these hardships, the family are cheery and can be done, the spirit mocks his prior selfishness. visits from the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Yet to Come. determined to enjoy the few positives that they can get from life. Scrooge is approached by a hooded phantom. The spirit is silent, and Scrooge I fear you more than any spectre I have seen. But as Quote: “It's enough for a man to understand his own business” Quote: I am sure we shall none of us forget poor Tiny Tim” is terrified by him. Scrooge pleads with him to provide his next lesson. The “ I know your purpose is to Jacob Marley and Fred– Joseph Marley is Scrooge’s late business The Ghost of Christmas Past This is the first spirit to visit Scrooge. ghost takes him to the stock exchange, where men discuss the accounts of a – rich man, a dingy pawn shop, where the rich man’s stolen goods are being do me good, and as I partner, and Fred is Scrooge’s nephew. They represent the two He is a curious child-like figure that has an illuminated head, STAVE FOUR sold, and the Cratchit household, where the family struggles with the death of hope to live to be another extremes of Christmas spirit. Joseph Marley symbolises the limitations symbolising how shining a light on memories from the past can be Tiny Tim. Scrooge is then taken to a freshly dug grave in a graveyard. The man from what I was, I of a life-lived focused on greed and selfishness, whilst Fred’s life used to illuminate one’s thoughts and behaviours in the future. The gravestone reveals that it is his own grave. Appalled, Scrooge begs with the am prepared to bear you appears fulfilled through his perpetual joy, kindness and interactions Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge to a number of places from spirit to give him another chance to show that he has learnt his lesson. The company, and do it with with others. After his death, Joseph Marley has been condemned to his childhood and early adulthood, including his old school, phantom begins to tremble and disappears, and once again Scrooge finds himself in the relative safety of his own bed. a thankful heart” wander the world as a miserable ghost. hometown, and the scene of his engagement being broken off. Quote: "you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate.” Quote: “Strange to have forgotten it for so many years!” Scrooge realises that he has been returned to Christmas morning, and is The Ghost of Christmas Present – The Ghost of Christmas Present The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come – The Ghost of Christmas Yet utterly overjoyed.
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